Homeowner is Arrested for Open Carrying an Empty Shotgun on His Own Property After Reporting a Tresspasser

A military veteran in Crawford County, Michigan has been arrested and charged with a felony assault with a deadly weapon even after HE was the one who called the cops in the first place when he found a man trespassing on his property.

When the man’s wife tried to video tape what was happening the cops told her to turn off the camera and tried to take it. (You can see the video below… only because the wife figured out how to restore the “deleted” file)

The Blaze has reported that Thomas Donald was out hunting with his son on his own land when they came across the trespasser. Donald had an unloaded .410 shotgun while his son was using a crossbow.

When they came across the trespasser on a dirt bike, they escorted him back to the house and called the Department of Natural Resources. But when the police showed up everything went downhill fast. According to Heather Donald when the cops showed up Thomas Donald held up his open shotgun in one hand and held a shell in his other hand to show that he was not a threat.

But the police did not get the hint and they soon had a pistol pointed at Donald as they put him in handcuffs and on the ground. The following video shows what Heather was able to record before the police forced her to turn off the cell phone camera.

In the video you can hear Heather asking why her husband was being arrested, to which the officer replied,

“Because we pulled up and he had a handgun — or excuse me, a rifle,” one of the deputies says, before being corrected by Donald. “A shotgun.”

You can also hear the officer almost say Donald was under arrest at that point trying to explain why he was in handcuffs. It should be noted that in the state of Michigan it IS legal to open carry, especially on your own property. The officers explained this was typical procedure because at this point they didn’t know who was who.

The cops then reportedly took the woman’s phone and forced her to delete the video she had just taken. But later on she figured out how to use recovery software to get the file back and upload it to Youtube.

It would be bad enough if the story ended there. But soon the cops were saying that Thomas Donald was pointing his shotgun at the trespasser and he was charged with felonious assault, even though the couple says he never pointed his gun at the trespasser and alluded to Thomas’s military training which taught him never to point a gun at anything he was not wanting to destroy.

The trespasser said he never saw any “no trespassing” signs, but later Heather Donald shot more video of the signs clearly visible on the trail the trespasser entered to get onto the Donald’s property.

The couple is outraged because “this is a man who was openly carrying an unloaded shotgun on his own property, which is legal in Michigan, and it’s even hunting season,” Heather told TheBlaze.

“It’s very disturbing,” Heather said, “and all of this happened in front of my children. Police are supposed to be the good guys and, at least in this case, they didn’t hold themselves to that standard.”

Update: A Facebook page has been setup to help Thomas Donald with his legal defense in this case. If you could like to contribute or learn more you can check it out here. His defense costs could be as much as $10,000 so any donation will be appreciated.

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Comments

The absurdity of this boggles ther imagination. Once the police figured it out they should have left with the trespasser. Obviously they are a confused bunch up there. The cold must have frozen their brains. Doe Gestapo tactics mean anything ? Since when is it necessary to turn off your video? Most Police now have that in their cars. Again…Brain Freeze going on here. I don’t suppose the trespasser was a relative of a Cop up there?

The officer violated his oath of office, further, per the video and information provided, the officer(s) were operating outside the scope of their authority. So tack on abuse of badge, abuse of authority. That’s also where severe lack of training comes in! The officer obviously forgot, or was never trained that a police car is considered decent cover. He/they could have learned everything necessary from behind cover. Sure, this is 20/20 hindsight based on 30 years in law enforcement, but having addressed the same basic problem dozens of times with no bad result tends to indicate that my departments training and experience vastly outguns that departments training, experience, and knowledge of the law. False arrest- instant win! Civil rights violation- instant win! Departmental inadequate training below industry standard- instant win!

The officers’ names and identifying information (so they will not be confused with persons with similar names) need to be published in this article and everywhere this story is told. Until those badge-wearing criminals are convicted felons they have not paid the price they owe for their treasonous assault on our nation’s freedom. This public shame should follow them until they have pleaded guilty and done time. Publish their names. Confront them wherever they go. Our Liberty demands we stand up.

Well OK — another well documents story that proves the theory that most cops are former high school hall monitors and crossing guards aka serial bullies that passed a 10th grade examination and was issued a badge, a gun, and the idea that they’re an iron man and can do whatever they want. They are also told their blue gang banger buddies will circle the wagons to protect any and all illegal acts they do.
This family needs legal representation via donations we just donated. After they win the illegal arrest they will need more donations to hire the best law firm in the nation to comedown hard on these cops and the rest of their blue gang banger buddies. We hope they can extract millions from the criminals in blue.

If the department automatically backs them up, then backs out after further investigation, something the fbi is famous for. When you get to civil court, the first thing they will ask is did your own office/department back you? You say yes, and court process goes forward. You say no, and it’s an instant loss

Hey Matt, I’m retired law enforcement…2 degrees..so watch out..from YEARS OF EXPERIENCE I do not think we are getting the whole story. I will say that some police officers are bullies and do bully. But I have found that is an exception.

Curtis,
Gotcha beat on the resume, and what the video and statements tell me is that regardless of what’s said, it should have never got that far. As a 31 year training officer/agent, I see the cop/cops exhibiting a severe lack of training and experience. Rule one of having a badge and gin is you have to be smarter than both, to start! And unless a cop is a hostage, you don’t run into something you don’t understand, don’t control, and haven’t been trained for unless it’s a life or death situation. But you do gain knowledge, gain control, and access training while developing the situation in your favor. None of which was exhibited there.

Even IF the HOMEOWNER was pointing the shotgun at the trespasser a person has the right to defend themselves on their own freakin property. This is nothing more than another step towards a police state over the past 4 years this kind of event has been happening on a much more frequent basis. I understand you want to defend “your own kind” but unless you want to lose your freedoms too perhaps you should pay more attention. We The People are losing patience.

Yes there is always more to the story. When the citizenry get sick of the low grade morons that don’t know the laws they are trying to enforce maybe common sense will return to the training. I know its a training issue, which is sad. I hope we can avoid the blood shed that usually comes when institutions are this failed.

Apparently not, Jees he even showed them te gun was not loaded, and he is the home owner that called about the trespasser. This is an open carry state, apparently the COPS are not aware of that. Hope they take these idiot cops to court.

Maggie,
If you have no training with a weapon, tactics, or situational awareness, then your for e continuim consists of scream, control, and shoot. The guy on the ground was way ahead of the cops and understood this, and complied in order to shut down the officers panic’d lack of reasoning. The cops then realized they were out of their element and didn’t have a clue. A professional cop, in legal control, with situational awareness, would have cated less about the video, as evidenced by the growing number of cops being video’d on the web these days, in full knowledge and with confidence in their position. Kudos to the pros, go get more training- to the rest!

Sadly, most people still believe the propaganda that was fed to us in school about the freedom and rights we have as citizens of the USA. The police can do whatever they please with no repercussions because, after all, who polices the police? Nobody! And very soon what little freedom we do have will be taken away when the dollar collapses and marshal law is instituted. Obama will suspend elections and install himself as Dictator. Hopefully, soon people will wake up and see what is happening and prepare themselves for what is to come.

Another example of “law enforcement” by a sworn officer who is
A. Ignorant of the Law
B. Documented as lying to cover his actions
C. Demonstrably unfit to hold a badge and the public trust.
We have too much “law enforcement” and not enough policing in this country.
These people have it hammered into their heads on a daily basis that we are collectively a threat to them. This mentality has to be eliminated. A good start would be to outlaw “cop only” social organizations as a beginning to reversing this destructive mentality.
Also, it needs to be baten into every officers head that interfering with a citizen documenting their actions is the same as witness tampering in a trial situation. We need laws on the books to emphasize this fact.

These fat Nazi pigs are more interested in harassing the home owner than they are with the trespasser seemed to me the fattest of the two poor sad excuses for cops were making sure the criminal was nice and comfortable on the lawn chair before he ran down homeowner number 2 for her phone !! Thank gods I want there because that entire situation would have gotten real REAL UGLY had I been. Never EVER carry an empty gun / rifle what ever. Geez..daddy and mommy call the cops on the bad guy… and the cops arrest mommy and daddy…Nice way to teach the kids how cops really act you two stupid pigs

All there are establishing in the public mind is not to call law enforcement next time. hell, even Joe Biden said you could shoot off a couple of rounds to scare off intruders didn’t he. so this guy surely didn’t do anything even close to what the vice president would have done. so shame on the law enforcement officers in that video. and yes we saw the video nice try guys.

This cop was stupid of the laws in Michigan and arrogant beyond reason. He only had to ask
for identification from the two guys to determine who lived at that address. Cops are becoming idiots just like the academic world in our school systems. Give an idiot a little power and he will
become a tyrant just like our president.

I don’t believe the shotgun was unloaded when he was hunting or when he took the trespasser into custody. I do believe he probably did point the gun at the trespasser. That being said I dont believe it is illegal to point a loaded gun at a trespasser on your property and then hold him for the police. Even if it is, where is the evidence he did so? Its my word against his and he is trespassing. I can see the officers having their weapons out and unarming the man even if the shotgun is now unloaded and handcuffing him until things get sorted out. I dont believe officers can make you stop recording them or make you erase your recording even in Michigan. I think the trespasser should have been arrested, I assume he was? and the home owner set free..

If you trespass on my property, expect me to be unfriendly while holding my weapon; however, call me and ask if you can ride your dirt bike on my trails politely and you may very well have my permission, no hassle.

So that being said, your trespassing on my property/domicile negates any credibility you have to say that I assaulted you by pointing my weapon at you.

Actually you are wrong. Assault means you must physically touch the person. If someone breaks into your home and you hold them at gun point till the police arrive you did nothing more than protect your home and family. That is all this homeowner did.

Jeremy,
It is completely legal to point a shotgun at someone! Especially a trespasser. All you need is to be able to reasonably articulate an imminent threat. And if you have posted property, and the guy routinely violates the posting, then he is exhibiting intent and capability! Anyone with any knowledges of weapons knows that someone with a break action .410 could be doing nothing but- hunting or praticing as a .410 is so weak that it’s not a logical choice for anything else!

I’m getting awfully tired (and very angry) about the number of these incidents of police officers acting like thugs and criminals, and totally flouting the law and the rights of law-abiding citizens. Yet I wish I had a better idea of what to do about it.

Outlaw Doughnuts not Guns. I truly believe Doughnuts are the reason for all these cops to start acting like RoboCops. I really surprised the two cops didn’t sit in the Lawn Chairs with the Trespasser and share some doughnuts and coffee with him.

Meh. The more gun obsessed woods and cave dwellers that get thrown into cuffs, held on the ground and have their firearms taken away from them the better. That’s just five more minutes of safety wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Oh and mom … nice calling to your kids like they’re a pack of dogs. Hayseed.

Are you serious? You know nothing about him other than the fact that he was HUNTING on his own property and suddenly he’s a gun nut? Why does he deserve to be held on the ground? What reason could you possibly have that this was warranted? Woods dwellers? Are you suggesting that there is something wrong with living out in the woods?

Mark,
You are the perfect definition of what Lenin called a useful idiot! All LE serve at the pleasure of the public. Except Sheriffs. All LE work for the public and no one else. After you get another 29 or so years in law enforcement, you will figure this out. Unless you are a democrat, in which case you are doomed to float around the punch bowl!

The police chief should be fired for even hiring that fat cop. Unfortunately everywhere you go you see more and more fat cops. Most are not well trained and few even have an acceptable IQ. Most couldn’t run across the street without getting out of breath. It’s unfortunate because citizens want to support law enforcement. When you see stories like this you lose faith in them. I have first hand experience watching cops handle accidents and disturbances. After watching my 80 year old neighbor assaulted by black teenage thugs on his own property and then arrested for running inside to get a pistol…well, I’m prepared to do what I need to do to protect myself and family. ‘Nuf said.

The police reported the trespasser to the “Department Of Natural Resources” instead of arresting him? What was the trespasser? A wild boar or grizzy bear? This is savagely ignorant in addition to abusive of Thomas Donald, the property owner.

BTW, listen to the cop threaten the wife with arrest a split second before the video is cut off.

What kind of ignorant bullies are being hired as police officers? There should be a standard psychological test used in all 50 states to determine if someone is mentally suitable to be a police officer. Also, raise officers’ pay so the occupation doesn’t attract such–what (note that I didn’t say “who”) are probably otherwise unemployablle scum.

This is just another example of the degradation of law enforcement throughout our country. While I’m a supporter of law enforcement, as those that know me can attest. There is something rotten that has been going on the last few years in law enforcement in general. Those in law enforcement need to take a big stand in holding those in their rank accountable for actions like this, are being willing to see those long time citizens that have been on their side, take a different position. This officer in this story needs fired. The other officers in that department need re-training, and possibly the police captain needs let go.

Law enforcement does not need to stand alone out there with so many that dislike them. They need to at least keep the law abiding citizens on their side. Time will tell, if those of leadership in various law enforcement departments heed the call.

Did MP duty and crowd control in Okinawa and in the Phillipines. Things can go wrong when there are guns involved; or any weapons visible. You can’t tell who the perpetrators are, sometimes everybody goes into custody or worse. Nothing like showing up to clear a disturbance and everyone has a weapon. I could not justify the jobs I was offered in the states; there is not enough pay for me to have to take a life. God Bless the peacekeepers.

The cops don’t care. They see guns and make no common sense of it. They’re Drones and can’t make a decision worth saving their life themselves. It’s all procedure they are following and I am sure they do it cause get something out of it. Like a PAT on the back and an ATTA boy you made the city MONEY your a hero. They are glorified suburb babysitters. My Uncle had a friend who was a cop and you should see all the dumb crap and corrupt crap i see them do and they can get away with it.

Guys, this does not surprise me one bit. As a lawyer, looking at the facts,… Even IF he had a loaded gun, and pointed it at the tresspasser, he was within his RIGHTS in Michigan to do so. He could even effect a citizen’s arrest. He ONLY needed to avoid a physical confrontation or physically harming the tresspasser. The policeman would have been under a duty to disarm the man first, but once he learned that that the man with the gun was the homeowner, and that he had detained the trasspasser without physcial violence, then he should have taken the tresspasser into custody. End of story.
I was a LICENSED federal firearms dealer with an SOT to work on machine guns, suppressors and AOW’s… and the police STILL arrested me for illegal possession… EVEN though I had ALL the proper paperwork and federal registrations. After six months of home arrest, the DA dismissed all charges…. and yet… The POLICE REFUSE to return any of the more than 300 firearms that they took into custody, thus bankrupting me and ending my legal business. Our country has run amok. Defend yourselves as best you can.

First off, Michigan is open carry state. Under the circumstances reported, the officers should be disciplined and possibly even charged with false arrest.Charges against the property owner should be immediately dropped and any firearms seized should be returned. Video of the circus should be professionally preserved to be used as supporting evidence in the criminal case and any future civil action and also as a training academy film on how NOT act in such a situation.
Sure hope the property owner and his wife SUE bigtime! It is legal to film any police action especially on your own property.

Many details of this story are still unknown. Of the facts presented here, the cops appear ridiculously in the wrong. I suspect the cops would have a different “story.” All I want to say is, Law Enforcement (Sheriff’s Dept.) and Policy Enforcement (Police) had better start policing their own – videos like this are revealing a “criminal attitude” that sooner or later will be treated as such by law abiding Americans.

Our Orange County,Fl Sheriff thinks no one but cops should have guns, if you call a cop out they want you to put all your guns away, doesn’t matter if you have a CCW or not, thank God most of the officers don’t think the same.

We invited the Sheriff out to a TEA Party meeting and I brought up how come I have to be disarmed to have a deputy come out, he said it for our safety, I said how about my safety???, I guess if your not part of the gang, your a problem

My 31 years as a LEO and I never saw such disregard for individual rights as this. The Deputys obviously don’t understand the 2nd ammendment as well as property owner’s rights. Since when is it illegal to film on your own property? These two need some remedial training. If the Sheriff doesn’t understand this then he should not be reelected.

Cameras protect the rights of the everyone involved, including the officers. I also work in law enforcement, and we are required to carry Vievu’s just for situations like this. The lady in the video was not doing anything to prevent the deputies from doing their job, nor was she doing anything that warranted the deputies attempt to confiscate her property.

It is long overdue to strip “qualified immunity” from ALL public officials, especially law enforcement, prosecutors and court officials. This one step would do MORE to reign in the abuses that take place “under color of authority”.

It is somewhat perverse, but I don’t care–when I hear of a cop losing his life, a small shred of my thinking asks the question. Did this person abuse his authority and contribute to his own death??

We are reaching a “tipping point”. . .Most (unjustified) police shootings are “covered up” by the “thin blue line” and their enablers. In fact, most police academy “training” comes with the (unofficial) recommendation to obtain and carry a “throwdown” weapon that can be used to “clear up” (actually obfuscate) a “questionable” situation.

If the Soviet purges (the midnight “knock on the door”) were met with resistance, the government would have found it difficult to recruit people for the “raids” . . . It the KGB “goon squads knew that there was a chance of them “not going home” that night, the raids would not have taken place . . .

The thing that confuses me the most is why the deputies decided to attempt to confiscate her camera. They should be carrying vievu’s with them in order to record what’s going on. This video doesn’t really tell me a whole lot, because we didn’t see what happened prior to the homeowner being put in cuffs. Something seems off about this though, she has a right to film the officers in order to insure that her (and her husband’s) rights are being protected.
I’ve had people pull cameras on me before when I am writing citations, I just pretend that they are not there. As long as she is not getting in the way of the officers doing their job, she is well within her rights.
When will people learn, cameras protect the rights of everyone involved, including the officers. If anyone has a problem with a camera, that generally indicates that something is not right.

I can see how he could have been put in cuffs because the cops accidentally would have thought he was armed and dangerous, unsure of the situation or who was filing the complaint. They got there and a man had a gun and ammo in his hand surrendering it.

However, making up a bogus story and carrying it out… foolishness and stupidity!

But I don’t think in general this is about gun control, I think it was more about lack of discernment.